Review: Naturally 7 @ RNCM – February 6

IMPRESSIVE TALENTS: Naturally 7

By Jen Lau

After watching the You Tube video of Naturally 7 perform their version of Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight on a Paris subway, I was blown away and impressed to find that it had received over five million hits.

The group’s use of ‘vocal play’ where they literally use their own voices as instruments to make sounds such as the guitar, trumpet, harmonica, bass, percussion and even DJ decks is absolutely astounding to watch.

Manchester-born founding members Roger and Warren Thomas said they were pleased to be back in the city alongside fellow members Rod Eldridge, Napoleon ‘Polo’ Cummings, Dwight Stewart, Garfield Buckley and Armand ‘Hops’ Hutton.

Unfortunately there were some technical difficulties and the show was delayed by 30 minutes, so there was a real build-up of anticipation.

The small and intimate setting of the RNCM (Royal Northern College of Music) theatre seemed like the perfect venue for the group’s performance.

The stage was simply set up with stools spread out and a small raised platform in the middle, where the drummer would usually perform - only there was no drum kit!

Once the show kicked-off, they opened with the harmonic sounds of Falling Down. This was followed by the thudding beats of new single Keep the Customer Satisfied and an amazing performance of Wall of Sound, which they performed at the 2008 Royal Variety Performance.

One of the most impressive parts of the show was when Rod performed a solo by recording his voice on a loop pedal and playing it back – his clever mix of scratching decks, percussion instruments and shout outs to Manchester were met with loud cheers.

Admittedly, occasionally when I hear beat boxing or the mouth trumpet, I’ve been known in the past to break down into childish fits of giggles. But this was one of the best shows that I’ve ever been to because I just couldn’t fault the amazing talent that was on display.

The first hour of the show went really quickly and there was soon a 20 minute interval before the second half, which I wasn’t expecting so it felt more like a theatre production than a music gig.

As well as the bands vocal play skills, their rapping and singing was impressive too. The best example was when they removed their microphones and sang a cappella to a silent audience.

It was deathly quiet and they somehow managed to hold the audience’s attention with a beautiful rendition of Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sounds of Silence.

They also performed their now infamous Feel It (In the Air Tonight), which was just as good live as it is on video.

While their return for the encore involved Warren and Polo battling it out with their fantastic air guitar solos followed by an up tempo dance number.

The band tried to teach the audience some ‘cool’ dance moves, which involved jumping up and down and sliding side to side (in a very cool way, of course).

Eventually, they got everyone up on their feet and strutting their stuff by the end of the show.

Lead singer and rapper Roger was great at interacting with the audience and jumped off stage to join the dancing crowd.

The audience’s reaction to their performance was sensational and some people even got out of their seats to gather at the front of the stage.

Perhaps this was because most of the audience were students, but there was still a wide range of different ages.

They are incredible live performers and they certainly know how to work the crowd. Throughout the show, there were lots of cheers, whoops and random bursts of clapping, which merely added to the high-energy atmosphere in the audience.

It’s just a shame Naturally 7 only played two dates in the UK this time round, but it’ll be worth the wait to see them tour again in the near future.